Are American cars really that bad?

[Buicktech]

Fact check: Are American cars really that bad?
Take a good look at vehicle reliability data and the answer may surprise you.
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney staff writer
January 25, 2006: 4:01 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - With all the bad news coming out of Detroit these days, many have a disarmingly simple suggestion: Ford and General Motors should simply build better cars.

"I read that Ford plans to cut about 30 000 jobs in North America alone," one CNNMoney.com reader wrote. "How about building better cars instead?'

CNN Money

[Buicktech]

Old news, but good news!

[2648562]

Consumer reports hates American made products more than Al Qaeda.

[86fleet]

Says pretty much what we already knew, but it's nice to hear it from another place

[luvapontiac]

thats true. Never anything negative about Toyota or Honda. I see those cars broken down on the side of the road a lot, but nothing is every said in the media about how boring and ugly most of their cars are... the media loves anything non American these days Everyday I read something horrible about either GM or Ford, and then they say how Toyota will become the world's largest automaker soon. I do not understand that. Toyota builds one kind of car.....Toyota. GM builds over a half dozen kinds of cars, yet Toyota will be bigger than them? Only because the media wants it that way. You almost think the American media wants GM to die.Boooo Toyota.

[Martino_z]

What american cars need are more plausable interiors, better handling (300c), more RWD choices and more power per litre. That said, Im biased because I as most at this site actually enjoy the experience of driving and would be the type to buy a barndoor simpleton powerful car with a manual tranny. The biggest market seems to be for automatic front wheel drive computer controlled econoboxes from japan. I personally no longer feel that american cars are bad, but rather they have a stigma attached to them which eastern cars (for god knows what reason) dont have. I think that the soul is slowly slipping away from the modern auto industry and anyone who's driven a camry or a corrolla will know what I mean.

[mgescuro]

Reviews: GM and Ford vehicles haven't always exuded the quality that may have been hiding in there somewhere. Cheap-feeling interior materials, raspy-sounding engines and gap-filled construction didn't give potential buyers the feeling of confidence that even lesser Japanese brands manage to carry off.

BINGO!!!
Perceived quality!!

[firebirdguy]

I think a lot of people have a bad taste in their mouth left over from the late 70's and 80's when - lets face it - domestic car quality was horrible. I feel that these days, American cars are better all around than their Foreign counterparts for the most part. Its unfortunate that people got so turned off by the crappy products of a couple decades ago. Now many people have sworn never to buy American ever again - without even giving the new products a chance. Myself, on the other hand, have only owned and will only own American cars, specifically GM cars and trucks!

[member12]

No.

Reliablity is great. Good job.


Now, what I have noticed recently is that the first thing people notice is the car's style. GM cars are not attractive or eye catching at all. The HHR, Solstice excluded.

Some coworkers of mine (honda drivers) are drooling over the new 2006 Sonata. Is the sonata a good car? yes. is it a great car? no. But it looks expensive, stylish, and it comes with a big warranty so you Toyota and Honda drivers can feel comfortable.

GM hasn't raised warranties, they still make boreing looking cars, and they are behind on paper with 4 speed transmissions, and two valve per cylinder engines.

For example: G6- decent enough, clean styling. Unfortunately, it looks like a regular car now. Its a little too clean and boring, and the base models are obviously the big sellers, and people see those around more often. The base models look cheesy, and Pontiac's website pictures are all motion pics and most are burry.

Impala- good car, great price, nothing special because it is bland. Needs 6 speed to take any reason to buy a Ford five hundred away, and the base models are what people see around and rent, so they need to be more powerful and more expensive looking. Once again, the website pics don't do it justice. They all need better backgrounds....like one with an Impala on the driveway of an expensive house or something.

Cobalt- Kind of showing its age already. It has decent mechanicals, but the wheels, tall, long, and narrow stance give it an economy car look. Take a look at a Scion TC- that car is not that special, but it looks sporty and expensive. The Chevrolet looks like an Economy car. the Scion looks like an Infiniti or something. The Civic looks sporty, lower, more sleek, and it looks more modern, and (most important) it looks more expensive than it is.

Colorado- solid, sturdy truck, but it needs some bragging rights to compete. I understand GM doesn't want to cannabalize Silverado sales, but it can't look bad. These little trucks are for young guys, who, if they like it, will come back to buy a Silverado or a Duramax one day. These things need to attract as many buyers as possible. They look ok, but they have no bragging rights in horsepower, towing, or anything. They use cheap looking wheels, and all the pictures of it on Chevy's website are obviously not real and pretty bad. GM needs badly to make a supercharged 3.5L as like a high end option on the colorados. A little "supercharged" badge on the truck would look really tight, and give it some appeal. the z71 option was a great idea. I bet most of GM's crew cab trucks are z71s. It gives it a better look.

GM makes a bunch of cars people need: reliable, safe, practical. Unfortunatly, GM doesn't make many cars or trucks people really want. GM can't get buy (they have proven it) on cars people need. You have to go the extra step and make very attractive, powerful, efficient, and affordable cars that last well after someone is done paying for it.

[New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66]

Perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception, perception perception.

[gl1104]

Originally Posted by firebirdguy

I think a lot of people have a bad taste in their mouth left over from the late 70's and 80's when - lets face it - domestic car quality was horrible. I feel that these days, American cars are better all around than their Foreign counterparts for the most part. Its unfortunate that people got so turned off by the crappy products of a couple decades ago. Now many people have sworn never to buy American ever again - without even giving the new products a chance.

I agree. Many people have a perception about American cars based on past products. It's gonna take a long string of good products by American manufacturers to change this perception in the minds of buyers.

However, I agree that no matter how improved American cars get, they just don't seem to get good press from publications such as Consumer Reports.

[496SS]

The problem lies with the top brass at both GM and Ford. Their marketing SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS. They have to take the fight to the foreign car makers they are targeting. GM and Ford should be using the information in their marketing strategy and put the Japanese auto makers on the DEFENSIVE and CHANGE THE PERCEPTION THAT THE WORLD HAS OF AMERICAN AUTOMOBILES. YOU DON'T SEE ANY OF THIS PRO-AMERICAN AUTO INFORMATION IN GM OR FORDS ADDS. HEY GM AND FORD-ARE YOU READING OR LISTENING YET???????????????????????????????????


I PUT A CHALLENGE OUT TO FORD AND GM. GET OFF YOUR AS@@ES AND FIGHT FOR A CHANGE. GM AND FORD HAVE TO FORCE THE CHANGE.

[impala02]

Originally Posted by member12

No.

Reliablity is great. Good job.


Now, what I have noticed recently is that the first thing people notice is the car's style. GM cars are not attractive or eye catching at all. The HHR, Solstice excluded.

Some coworkers of mine (honda drivers) are drooling over the new 2006 Sonata. Is the sonata a good car? yes. is it a great car? no. But it looks expensive, stylish, and it comes with a big warranty so you Toyota and Honda drivers can feel comfortable.

I agree with most of what you said, but I have to take issue with the Sonata comment. I have seen several of the new Sonatas around, and it looks OK, but it is definitely not worth drooling over. From the rear it looks like an Accord, and the rest of it looks like it fits in with the rest of the daily driver crowd. There is really nothing striking in terms of looks about the Sonata. To me, the G6 still looks fresh eventhough it's been out for over a year. I think your coworkers are drooling over the Hyundai because of the Sonata's resemblance to the Accord from the rear. Funny, I figured the Accord drivers would be miffed that they stole their design.

Also, about the warranties - I wish all GM vehicles had better warranties, but they have increased them somewhat. For example, the Aveo and Cobalt both have 5yr/60000 mile powertrain warranties and all Buicks and Cadillacs come with a 4 year/50000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. And just for kicks, the Siverado "hybrid" (if you want to call it that), has an 8yr/100000 mile warranty.

[runningshoes]

GM's designs don't seem to have the same attention to detail as their eastern competitors. you can see it in the doors, the fenders, the head- and taillights, the interior. that attention to detail makes the foreign makes appear more upscale, if only incrementally so, and makes all american, or at least gm, cars look frumpy and cheap.

look across the board. GM designers appear to be using blunter pencils than their competitors. rounded corners where sharp creases belong abound.

now, toyota and honda's designs may be more boring and/or more bland, and in some cases more ugly, but they all seem to be crisper, cleaner, and more detailed than their general counterpart.

that is why the perception of GM's cars is so poor.

well, its one of the reasons...

[1979RS]

Yeah, the marketing is lame and underfunded in alot of cases, especially from what I've read elsewhere from other posts.

I'm not surprised much by the mainstream media, since alot of mainstream journos are lefty-establishment types, with the exception of some of the guys at car mags like C/D and R&T. I feel all your pain at CR, since they don't like German cars in most cases either .

I've driven a Geo Prizm or a Corolla in drag when learning to drive and I wasn't that impressed with the ride or the tinniness of the sheetmetal. Plus the airbag light was on, and I ended up getting stuck with a dead battery because the alternator was bad. So much for Japanese quality .